The
Catholic Weekly
Online
Sydney
21 September 2003
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Heaven
scent floral feast
Welcome
strangers’ call
Bishops:
Fight racism
Bishop
Mayne dies at 75
Senate
‘yes’ to gay bid
Benedictine
nuns gather in Sydney
Tears
of joy at Marriage Sunday Mass
Donor
club
His
Holiness, the poet
Concert
to mark Pope’s jubilee
It’s
‘weakness of faith’
Still
a need for Catholic voice: Dr Pell
Editorial:
Spectre of fear
Letters:
Christian values
Conversation:
Amanda McKenna, Catholic singer and songwriter - ‘God’s messenger’ on a journey
of faith
Opintion:
‘Good mother of all ...’
Voice
of Youth: ‘Most wonderful day’
Insights:
Biblical ancestors?
Religious:
Spirit-ualities are everywhere
North
American, Irish, Australian sisters in historic Loreto reunion
Education:
Decade a day at school
Social
Work degree course at Strathfield
Balmain
kids hit right note
Catechism:
Daytime course
New
bishops ‘help God’s light shine in darkness’
Capacity
to forgive ...
‘Heroic
witness’ to the Gospel of hope
‘Kids
worth dying for’
Inspirations:
‘Schoolies’ faith patrol
‘Kids worth dying for’
Friends chairman Gary O’Meally hands a $20,000 cheque to Mons Tony Doherty
By Damir Govorcin
“Dr Martin Luther King Jun said:
‘If you have nothing to die for, your life isn’t worth living’. That’s the way I feel about my kids,” says Fr Chris Riley, founder of Youth Off The Streets.
“I would put my body in the line of fire to protect any kid ... my kids are worth dying for.”
He told guests at the annual Friends of St Mary’s Cathedral luncheon at Parliament House that he will be launching a campaign soon for legislative changes on child prostitution.
His outspokenness on the issue has led to threats on his life, but that won’t deter Fr Chris from crusading for the rights of children.
“I have had calls from the sex industry telling me by speaking out I will hurt their industry,” he says.
“I said to them: ‘how inconvenient for you’.
“Then they told me to be careful for my safety.
“But threats on my life won’t silence me on the issue of child prostitution.”
Fr Chris says that “as Christians we so often sit back and watch evil happen and not do anything about it”.
“If you’re not fighting it, you’re part of it,” he said.
“You find an 11-year-old on the streets prostituting, and we as a nation of adults should have the right to remove that child from the streets, and if necessary lock them up without a criminal record for their own protection.
“How many kids are waiting for someone to smash the door down and say: ‘We have come to get you?’ I’m sure there are thousands.
“I’m sure civil libertarians will be saying: ‘You are destroying the rights of this child’. But no 11-year-old should be given that right or decision.
“Prostitution is linked to poverty and drugs and we need to get these kids out of that and put them with safe foster families.”
Fr Chris says there are “thousands of kids in this country who no one is tracking and no one is caring about - we describe these kids we work with to the government and they say they don’t exist.
“I work with courageous young people, who have every reason to curl up in a ball and die.
“These young people have incredible strength to reach out against the odds and contribute.”
Fr Chris says each person in a juvenile detention centre costs the NSW Government $600 a day.
“There are very few positive outcomes from these environments,” he adds.
He speaks glowingly of “my kids”.
Youth Off The Streets has adopted an orphanage in East Timor and camps for kids with disabilities.
Fr Chris recently accompanied a group of his kids to East Timor and was amazed at the compassion and love they showed to the orphans.
“Street kids have extra ordinary powers of love because they understand pain,” he says. “My kids can connect with other broken kids.
“The bond of love between my kids and the orphans grew intense, and the tears were flowing on both sides when we had to leave.”
Fr Chris received a standing ovation from the audience of more than 200, who included the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr George Pell, and Labor MLC Tony Burke.
Garry O’Meally, chairman of the 450-member Friends of St Mary’s Cathedral, handed a cheque of $20,000 to the dean of the cathedral, Mons Tony Doherty, which will go towards the restoration of the cathedral.
Membership of the Friends is $15 per year, joint membership (husband and wife) $20 and life membership $1000.
For more information ring St Mary’s Cathedral office on 9220 0400.